Tang explained, "Over the past 2 weeks, we've had extensive interviews with a dozen of casino service staff & premium mass hosts. We learnt that gaming spend per visitor has started to rise, and VIPs are returning as premium mass players. We conclude that Macau is now at the start of a mass-led GGR recovery. Importantly, both base mass and premium mass are growing again. We forecast that Mass GGR growth will accelerate from 4% yoy in 2Q16 to 10% yoy in 2H16 and to 12% yoy in 2017. As mass has higher margins, we lift our sector EBITDA by 10% to US$6.6bn for 2017. We prefer mass-focused operators, and upgrade Sands, MGM China & MPEL from Hold to Buy."

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